A New Kensington man was busted with about 36 pounds of marijuana in boxes that had been sent in the mail and intercepted by police and a drug task force before delivery.

Plum police and the Allegheny County District Attorney's Narcotics Enforcement Team were monitoring packages at a shipping facility in Plum when they saw "two boxes that were suspicious," Arnold police said.

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After a K-9 team sniffed the boxes, Plum police got a search warrant and found about 18 pounds of marijuana in each one, with a combined street value of about $50,000, Arnold police said.

Westmoreland County detectives got involved, and they arranged with New Kensington and Arnold police for a controlled delivery of the boxes to their intended destinations on Kenneth Avenue in Arnold and Fifth Avenue in New Kensington.

Police said Timothy Lucas signed for the first box when it was delivered to the Kenneth Avenue address at about 1:45 p.m. Thursday, and then he was arrested on a charge of possession with intent to deliver.

Lucas, 50, had both tracking numbers for the boxes, police said.

Online records from the Westmoreland County Prison showed Lucas was being held on $50,000 straight bond.